News

Huddling Round the Fire

10/7/2011

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Huddling Round the Fire: Personnel at Thule AB, Greenland, installed exhaust boilers on each of the base's five locomotive-style engines that generate electricity for the base. The boilers will help produce heat for Thule, which, located 700 miles above the Arctic Circle, requires year-round heat. Traditionally, steam boilers have heated Thule, but they are expensive to operate. By capturing the engine exhaust for heat, officials think the base will consume 1.5 million less gallons of fuel per year, saving nearly $3 million annually. Today, Thule consumes a combined 10 million gallons of JP-8 fuel each year for heating and electricity. Two of the exhaust boilers went online in June. All five are expected to be up and running by next spring. After that, the steam boilers will become the base's backup heat source. The project to install the exhaust boilers cost about $8.3 million. (Thule report by Lea Johnson)